Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
Two years into fatigue and no answers.
I suspect I am choking at night because of very dry nasal passages that were caused by one of two events that happened just before this all started - a cracked tooth or my sensitivity to chemicals that was aggravated at my former place of a work by horrible coworkers who couldn’t understand how a person could be allergic to Lysol.
I’m using xylimelts, a humidifier, drinking water, a CPAP (that doesn’t do anything) and mouth tape.
Any suggestions?
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
1. post some oscar charts to see if they shed any light on why you have dry mouth and continuing fatigue.
2. how do you know your mouth is shut? tape? I can't use tape but I've read that air can bypass the tape if not applied just right.
3. I use a nasal pillow mask and use a soft cervical collar to minimize my frequent lip leaks. some use chin straps (best ones pull the chin up, not back). I've noticed that I can have dry mouth in the absence of leaks. my floppy palate shifts air from my nose to my mouth, which usually leads to lip leaks, but sometimes the air flow just swirls (for lack of a better word) around in my mouth without escaping, or at least not escaping so much as to be a noticeable leak. the solution to this is to return my sagging tongue to the roof of my mouth. the trick I'm struggling with is to learn to maintain this position during sleep.
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
Instead of mouth tape I use four cotton tennis-bands (ordered from China via eBay for good price) and stagger then strategically across the mouth at various angles. Yes, it requires FOUR to retain my Bilevel pressure which sometimes reaches 22. Then I place a chin strap securely so that the tennis-bands are even more secure. Then I place two velcro-strips across the mouth area.
Doing this is not only surprisingly comfortable but I reduced my mouth-leak report on OSCAR from up to 33% to zero on most nights---and the leak rate is only very rarely above 1%.
02-23-2021, 03:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-23-2021, 03:46 PM by jmr8749.)
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
Hi. Thanks for responding.
I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know what an OSCAR chart is, I’m sorry. I’ll get right on this.
Also - were you experiencing a dry mouth at night too? I’m noticing it happening as soon as I lie down, which is making me wonder if it’s reflux or an allergy? I mean, why would I only have dry mouth when I’m in bed?
(02-12-2021, 06:07 PM)verysincere Wrote: Instead of mouth tape I use four cotton tennis-bands (ordered from China via eBay for good price) and stagger then strategically across the mouth at various angles. Yes, it requires FOUR to retain my Bilevel pressure which sometimes reaches 22. Then I place a chin strap securely so that the tennis-bands are even more secure. Then I place two velcro-strips across the mouth area.
Doing this is not only surprisingly comfortable but I reduced my mouth-leak report on OSCAR from up to 33% to zero on most nights---and the leak rate is only very rarely above 1%.
There is so much terminology I’m not familiar with. The “sleep disorder specialists” I’ve seen have been basically trained monkeys.
Is there a good place to start so I can catch up and know what OSCAR and BiLevel means?
02-23-2021, 04:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-23-2021, 04:11 PM by sheepless.)
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
oscar is open source cpap analysis reporter. it displays breath by breath data generated by your pap machine. look at the top of this page in the black banner for the link for the free download. bilevel is a more sophisticated pap machine (than cpap or apap) that enables different pressures for inhale and exhale, among other things.
also at the top of this page is a link to the wiki that will help you get oriented.
nighttime dry mouth is common and almost always mouth breathing/cpap leaking through the mouth. the usual solutions are to learn to keep your tongue against the roof of your mouth, use a chinstrap, tape your lips, &/or wear a soft cervical collar. if you know your mouth is closed all night (but how would you?) the only thing to do is to the tongue suck technique which you can search this sight for more info about. another option is to use something like xylimelts, which I have no experience with, but believe it's something you leave in your mouth to stimulate saliva production.
if you have dry mouth before masking up, you have to look elsewhere, like medications or high room temperature or very low humidity, for example.
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
Do you have a picture of what this looks like setup? I tried it based on your post and found the headbands pushed my chin back and restricted my airway more. I was hoping this would work since the adhesive in all the mouth tapes I've tried irritate my throat and airways.
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
Even without a chart, I can see that your starting pressure is too low. I suggest that you raise it to 7. Are you using pressure relief? I think with Philips it is called flex. Using this at the highest setting makes breathing easier and relieves flow limitations, which are shorter apneas that are not reported as apneas, but which make your therapy less effective.
Machine: ResMed AirCurve 10 Vauto
Mask: Bleep DreamPort Sleep Solution
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
I tape my mouth fully shut and still wake up with a sore and dry throat. It's a mystery!
RE: Mouth Shut but Still have dry mouth/throat
The good: I have used tape to stop mouth leaks and it worked.
The bad: After 1 hour I get dry mouth and i have to remove the tape and the CPAP.
I am a new user, 6 weeks. I have lots of mouth leaks and it is very uncomfortable, even using a tape. It starts within 5 minutes and the leaks will bolloon my cheeks, in fact it keeps me awake and I remove the whole thing after about 45 minutes.
Curiously, the mouth leaks were not as bad at the beginning of my treatment. Using a nose mask with no tape, I was able to control the mouth leaks and fall asleep for a couple of hours. I though then that I was on my way to make CPAP WORK! Now it seems the mouth leaks have worsened.
Note: I have raised the humidity level of my CPAP with no effect on dry mouth.
I have tried 3 different nasal masks and I guess I am left with one solution, the full mask. From my reading it seems that the more skin a mask covers, the higher the risk of leakages. I hope this will work.
Andre
Help with tongue exercise for mouth leaks
i am a 6 weeks CPAP user and mouth leaks have gotten worst. I have used a pillow mask, the other Nasal mask and the full nasal mask.
I have also tried a chin strap and the mouth tape and not only I still get air going into my mouth, but I end up with an extreme dry mouth.
I feel I am left with 2 more options: the full face mask with the discomfort and the extra risk of leakage or an exercise with my tongue that would stop the leaks at its origin.
Here is copy of a comment I read on "redit". It makes sense to me. Can someone tell me if this exercise is the right one and if it is the right way to do it:
"so the exercise I did to help improve my tongue posture was to press my tongue onto the roof of my mouth and suck. That forms a bit of a suction cup effect.
i will often just do this throughout the day and before I got to bed. I don’t get a lot of mouth leaks anymore."
Please help me I do not want to quit. Will this exercise work? Or do you have an other solution?
